Study tracks development, integration of MTM

WASHINGTON — The concept of medication therapy management has become more developed, and certain aspects of it have become established within the organizations providing and paying for it, according to a white paper published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.



Researchers from pharmacy schools at the University of Minnesota, the University of Iowa, the University of Southern California and the University of Oklahoma collected data for "environmental scans" from MTM providers and payers throughout the United States using self-administered online surveys conducted between 2007 and 2010.



The study found a need to integrate MTM between organizations and patients serviced, between partnering organizations and between collaborating healthcare providers and that "a 'channel of distribution' is emerging in which organizational relationships and cost efficiencies will be important considerations in the near term." The researchers suggested that customer portfolio management and transaction cost economics would help to integrate MTM into the U.S. healthcare system.

Click here to see the white paper.